Keep in mind that of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates, one is a dedicated New American Century-style neoconservative and two others are bonafide lunatics. So I'm not sure "startling" is the right word to use here.
Thursday night’s Republican debate at the University of Miami revealed one startling thing: all four Republican candidates for president would put more boots on the ground to fight ISIS.
CNN debate moderator Hugh Hewitt during the debate asked candidates whether they would put troops on the ground “to end the ISIS threat in Syria and Iraq,” and every candidate on stage said he would.
Because if there's anything the conservative movement has learned about military adventures in the Middle East during the last decade-plus, it's that we should do more of that. No point in having cannon fodder without the cannons.
Here's the "serious" one weighing in, the one who brands himself a pretty nuanced guy. John Kasich:
“And you bring all the force you need. It has got to be ‘shock and awe’ in the military-speak. Then once it gets done, and we will wipe them out, once it gets done, it settles down, we come home and let the regional powers redraw the map if that’s what it takes.”
Throw in some troops, make a nice coalition, yada yada yada maybe redraw the borders in the Middle East a bit because that might settle things down nicely. I hear the British did that and it worked great.
All right, so it's pretty much settled at this point: If a Republican wins the presidency next year, we're going to be going to war in the Middle East again. Maybe a little, maybe a lot, but none of the candidates can tolerate a future in which they don't get to send troops in to see if they can sort things out for good this time.